There isn't another strategy game on the market to match Ground Control visually. It's really the first true 3D RTS title to succeed in providing both a comfortable interface and an attractive setting. Units are so detailed and colorful that you'd be forgiven for mistaking close-up views for scenes from a new first-person shooter. Animations are also unparalleled. Terradynes wheel around in the dirt before changing direction, guns recoil as they fire, and Aerodynes soar and turn like real jet aircraft. Focus in close on Marines or Crusaders during a battle and you'll see them get gibbed. All sorts of other nice touches are thrown in as well, from colored lighting to lifelike map textures to funky dust that rolls up as your vehicles roar past. The audio effects that accompany all this beauty don't keep pace, however. Booms and explosions are strictly generic and the hollow banging of the infantry guns sounds like something I could create with a wooden spoon and a garbage can.
Gameplay is promising in the beginning. Ground Control bears more than a passing resemblance to Bungie's classic Myth in that neither game bothers with resource management. There's no tiberium or anything else to interfere with killing everything in sight. Early missions in the Crayden campaign involve both hard-hitting action and some tactical forethought. Sometimes you need to go at your Dawnie foe hammer and tongs, while on other occasions you need to make the terrain work for you. Shadows can be advantageous in a scrap, as can securing the high ground before the enemy approaches. It's fun to experiment with the capabilities of your units, such as seeing how effective depleted uranium shells and GyroJet ammo can be on Order Crusaders and Hoverdynes.
